Strategic Education Research Partnership Institute

TO GENERATE INNOVATIVE, SCALABLE SOLUTIONS TO OUR SCHOOLS' MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS THROUGH SUSTAINED COLLABORATIONS AMONG EDUCATORS, RESEARCHERS, AND DESIGNERS.

BUILDING CAPACITY TO SUPPORT STRUGGLING ADOLESCENT READERS SERP WAS AWARDED A FIVE-YEAR, 7.8-MILLION EDUCATION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH (EIR) MID-PHASE GRANT IN OCTOBER 2018 TO BUILD THE CAPACITY TO SCALE THE STRATEGIC ADOLESCENT READING INTERVENTION (STARI). IN A PRIOR STUDY, STARI SHOWED IMPACTS THAT ARE STATISTICALLY AND SUBSTANTIVELY SIGNIFICANT ON COMPONENT READING SKILLS AND ON DEEP COMPREHENSION. THIS PROJECT ALLOWED SERP TO EXPAND THE CAPACITY-BUILDING RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR STARI AND SCALE THE PROGRAM TO MORE DISTRICTS, SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, AND STUDENTS. TO MEET THE COST-MATCHING REQUIREMENT, SERP RECEIVED CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ABELL FOUNDATION, BLAUSTEIN FOUNDATION, AND THE NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST, AS WELL AS SEVERAL IN-KIND DONATIONS. THE PLAN FOR THE PROJECT INCLUDED TRAINING TEACHERS AND COACHES AND DISTRIBUTING PROGRAM MATERIALS AN ESTIMATED 3,500 STUDENTS, INCLUDING WORKBOOKS, FLUENCY PASSAGES WRITTEN AT FOUR LEVELS, AND THE NOVELS, NON- FICTION TEXTS, AND POETRY THAT ACCOMPANY EACH UNIT. ELIGIBLE STUDENTS ASSIGNED RANDOMLY RECEIVED EITHER STARI OR THE SCHOOL'S BUSINESS- AS-USUAL READING INTERVENTION. MDRC CONDUCTED THE EVALUATION. DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WORK IN SCHOOLS AND DATA COLLECTION EFFORTS WERE IMPACTED SIGNIFICANTLY IN 2020 AND 2021. AFTER TWO DISRUPTED STUDY YEARS, RESEARCH EFFORTS RESUMED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 2021-22 SCHOOL YEAR WITH A SMALLER SAMPLE IN NEW YORK CITY AND JACKSON (MS). RESULTS DEMONSTRATED SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ON THE MISSISSIPPI STATE TESTS. WHILE THE RESEARCH COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT WERE DISRUPTED, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS CONTINUED AND EXPANDED TO INCLUDE EXTENSIVE SUPPORTS AND RESOURCES FOR CLASSROOMS USING STARI IN HYBRID AND VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES ENABLES MORE SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS TO ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT THE PROGRAM SUCCESSFULLY IN THE FUTURE. THUS, ANTICIPATED IMPACT FAR EXCEEDS THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS DIRECTLY SERVED THROUGH THE PROJECT. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT TEAM HAS WRITTEN SEVERAL PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES AND PRESENTED AT SEVERAL LITERACY CONFERENCES. SERP ALSO APPLIED FOR AND RECEIVED AN EIR EXPANSION GRANT TO CONTINUE TO SCALE AND SUPPORT STARI IN SEVERAL STATES. THE MID-PHASE PROJECT ENDED JUNE 30, 2023.

1. ADAPTING STARI TO ACCELERATE STUDENT READING ACHIEVEMENT 2. CENTER FOR SUCCESS FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS 3. STRENGTHENING INFRASTURECTURE FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 4. 20TH ANNIVERSARY 5. MATH BY EXAMPLE 6. GEOMETRY BY EXAMPLE 7. LEARNING PROGRESSIONS IN SCIENCE 8. INTERNAL COHERANCE 9. OTHER PROGRAMS

SCALING STUDENT SUCCESS WITH STARI: SERP WAS AWARDED A FIVE-YEAR, 15-MILLION EDUCATION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH (EIR) EXPANSION-PHASE GRANT STARTING IN JANUARY 2023 TO BUILD THE CAPACITY TO SCALE THE STRATEGIC ADOLESCENT READING INTERVENTION (STARI). THIS GRANT WILL SUPPORT THE PROGRAM'S ADOPTION IN FOUR STATES IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY, AND TO STUDY ITS EFFECTIVENESS WITH THESE DIFFERENT POPULATIONS. THE GOALS FOR THE PROJECT ARE: 1. TO IMPROVE THE READING SKILLS OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS, DEMONSTRATING EFFECTS OF STARI AS COMPARED TO BUSINESS-AS-USUAL ON READING BEHAVIORS, PROXIMAL READING SKILLS (READBASIX), PROGRESS TOWARD MEETING GRADE-LEVEL STANDARDS (STATE TESTS), AND LEADING INDICATORS OF DISTAL OUTCOMES (COURSE PASS RATES); 2. TO BUILD TEACHER CAPACITY FOR EFFECTIVE LITERACY INSTRUCTION AND TO MEASURE THE IMPACT OF STARI PROFESSIONAL LEARNING ON TEACHERS' KNOWLEDGE AND INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE; 3. TO DETERMINE FOR WHOM AND UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS STARI IS MOST EFFECTIVE BY EXAMINING OUTCOMES FOR SUBGROUPS (STUDENTS READING FAR BELOW GRADE LEVEL, STUDENTS WITH IEPS, ENGLISH LEARNERS); 4. TO CREATE AN AFFORDABLE, SUSTAINABLE PACKAGE OF SUPPORTS FOR SCHOOLS THAT CHOOSE TO IMPLEMENT STARI OUTSIDE OF A GRANT-FUNDED RESEARCH STUDY; 5. TO DISSEMINATE RESULTS AND EXPAND THE USE OF STARI NATIONWIDE.

SUSTAINING LITERACY PRACTICES OVER TIME SERP RECEIVED A FOUR-YEAR, TWO-MILLION-DOLLAR GRANT FROM IES TO PARTNER WITH THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS (DCPS), AND A RESEARCH TEAM FROM HARVARD AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND TO DEVELOP AND TEST AN INTERVENTION CONSISTING OF TWO MICRO-CREDENTIAL COURSES. THE FIRST COURSE WILL TARGET EFFECTIVE USE OF STUDENT TIME IN LITERACY CENTERS, A STRUCTURE FOR INSTRUCTION USED IN THE LARGE MAJORITY OF K-2 CLASSROOMS. THE SECOND COURSE WILL TARGET THE USE OF ACADEMICALLY PRODUCTIVE TALK (APT), AN INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE THAT SUPPORTS DEEP READING COMPREHENSION AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT BUT IS NOT WIDELY USED. BOTH COURSES ARE BEING DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH DCPS LITERACY LEADERS. DCPS K-2 CLASSROOMS FOOTAGE IS BEING COLLECTED AND WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS FEATURING RESEARCHERS AND DCPS LITERACY LEADERS. COURSE CONTENT WILL BE REVISED IN RESPONSE TO FEEDBACK FROM TEACHERS IN USABILITY STUDIES CONDUCTED THROUGH AN ITERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS. SCHOOLS WILL BE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO PARTICIPATE IN EACH OF THE COURSES IN YEAR 3 OF THE STUDY. ELIGIBLE TEACHERS IN THE TREATMENT SCHOOLS WILL INCLUDE THOSE IN GRADES K-2 WHO ARE IN THEIR FIRST THREE YEARS OF TEACHING, AND THOSE WHO ARE IN WARNING STATUS ON THEIR TEACHER EVALUATION. THE IMPACT OF THE COURSES ON TEACHERS' PRACTICE AND STUDENT LEARNING WILL BE EVALUATED.